Exploratory Research Grant Projects

Using one treatment to reduce the costs of registration for firms and one to emphasize the legal costs of informality, this project seeks to identify specific policy interventions designed to induce the formalization of firms.

This project begins the initial work into creating a feasible pilot internship program for young Ethiopians, in order to study the impact of training in entrepreneurial skills and improved business networks on the emergence and growth of new firms in developing countries. 

In countries with weakly institutionalized legal environments, private contract enforcement mechanisms arise to facilitate trade. This project focuses on cheating in business and the interaction between private contract enforcement and public legal institutions. 

This project seeks to understand the recent impact on Ethiopia's leather value chain of investment and growing interest from predominantly Asian/Chinese firms in order to inform policies to foster productivity-enhancing linkages between foreign and local firms.